Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz
1913 - 1971
Iraqi jurist, politician, and writer.
Abd al-Rahman al-Bazzaz was born in Baghdad to a Sunni Muslim family. He completed elementary school and high school in Baghdad and was graduated from Baghdad Law College in 1934. He completed his law studies in 1938 at King's College of London University. As a young man he was active politically. In the 1930s, he was a member of the Muthanna and Jawwal clubs, the intellectual focus of which was pan-Arabism and promotion of Arab nationalism. In 1941 he supported the Rashid Ali al-Kaylani uprising against the British. After the uprising's collapse and with the second British occupation of Iraq, he was interned during World War II. Shortly after the war ended, he was released from jail and appointed dean of the Baghdad Law College. In 1956 he was removed from his post for protesting the aggression against Egypt by England, France, and Israel. He and several educators signed a petition critical of Iraq's government's stand during the Suez crisis. He returned to his job as dean of the law college in the aftermath of the revolution of 14 July 1958.
Bazzaz's interest and activities in the pan-Arab movement again put him in conflict with the new government of Abd al-Karim Qasim. After the collapse of the Shawwaf uprising in 1959, he was arrested and tortured. Upon his release, he went to Egypt, where he assumed the deanship of the Institute of Arab Studies at the Arab League. He returned to Iraq after the military overthrow of the Qasim regime in 1963. This coup marked a turning point in al-Bazzaz's political career. President Abd al-Salam Arif, a close friend, assigned alBazzaz to several government positions. He was appointed ambassador to the United Arab Republic (UAR), and later to England. In 1964 - 1965, he became the secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. On 6 September 1965, he was named deputy prime minister. The prime minister then tried to unseat the president and seize power. The coup failed, however, and President Arif invited Bazzaz to form a new government on 21 September 1965. Al-Bazzaz was the first civilian prime minister since the collapse of the monarchy in 1958.
President Arif died unexpectedly on 13 April 1965 in a helicopter crash. A brief power struggle for the presidency ensued. In the first joint meeting of the Defense Council and cabinet to elect a president, al-Bazzaz held a plurality of one vote over the two military candidates. Nevertheless, he needed a two-thirds majority to win the presidency. A compromise candidate, Abd al-Rahman Arif, the brother of the late president, was chosen instead. The new president asked al-Bazzaz to form a new cabinet on 18 April 1966. Al-Bazzaz was forced to resign, however, on 6 August under pressure from various political groups. Chief among them was the group of politically minded senior officers who took for granted their right to govern the country. These officers resented al-Bazzaz's outspokenness concerning the proper role of the army and his intentions to reduce military salaries and privileges.
Furthermore, the officers opposed his attempts to solve the Kurdish problem peacefully. The leftist groups, including the Communists, denounced al-Bazzaz as an agent of the imperialists. The supporters of President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Baʿthists accused him of being an enemy of Arab socialism and paying only lip service to the proposed union of Egypt and Iraq. On 24 January 1969, he was accused by the newly established Baʿthist government of involvement in clandestine activities against the government. He was tortured and imprisoned for fifteen months. In 1970, he was released because of illness and went to London for treatment, dying there in 1971.
Several features distinguished al-Bazzaz's eleven months as prime minister. First, he strongly advocated the rule of law and an end to the erratic behavior of military officers who had dominated Iraq's politics since the revolution of 14 July 1958. His government became increasingly civilianized. He replaced the Revolutionary Military Council with the National Defense Council and limited its function in regard to defense and internal security. The political system was open compared with previous regimes. As prime minister, al-Bazzaz held numerous news conferences and appeared on radio and television. Constructive criticism was encouraged, and he promised to restore parliamentary life and hold elections as soon as possible.
Second, in the field of economy, al-Bazzaz announced the First Five Year Plan (1965 - 1970). He advocated "prudent socialism," which attempted to strike a balance between the public and private sectors. He encouraged joint ventures between public and private sectors as well as between foreign and domestic investors. The doctrine of prudent socialism sought to increase production without abandoning the principle of equitable distribution. It was designed to lessen the impact of nationalization measures issued by the previous government.
A third distinguishing feature of al-Bazzaz's administration was the announcement of the twelve-point agreement in June 1966. Its purpose was to solve the Kurdish problem, the most unsettling difficulty of Iraq's government since 1960. The pact provided statutory recognition of the Kurdish nationality; recognized Kurdish as an official language, along with Arabic, in schools and local administration; and permitted the employment of Kurds in local administrative posts. The plan promised to hold a parliamentary election within the period stipulated in the provisional constitution of 1964. It provided for proportional representation of the Kurds in all branches of the government, including the cabinet, the Parliament, and the judiciary. It gave the Kurds the right to publish their own newspapers and to organize their own political parties. The plan provided general amnesty to all persons who had taken part in the Kurdish revolt and restored them to their previous posts and positions. It created a special Ministry for Rehabilitation and Reparation to pay damages incurred in Kurdish territory. It also endeavored to compensate Kurdish victims in northern Iraq. Unfortunately, al-Bazzaz was forced to resign in August 1966, and the agreement was never enacted.
In foreign policy, al-Bazzaz emphasized that Iraq needed to maintain a friendly relationship with its neighbors, including the non-Arab countries of Turkey and Iran. He visited both in order to improve relations, which had deteriorated since the 1958 revolution. As for the union with Egypt, he adhered to the pronouncement concerning the Iraqi - UAR Unified Political Command of 25 May 1965. He did little to advance the union, however, because of Iraq's internal affairs, including the Kurdish problem.
Al-Bazzaz was a prolific writer. He published more than twelve books on subjects including law, Iraq's history, Arab nationalism, and Islam. In his writings, he saw no apparent contradiction between Arab nationalism and Islam. Arab nationalism was not a movement based on race or solidarity of the blood. Rather, it was based on ties of language, history, spirituality, and basic interests in life. In addition to religious belief, Islam was viewed as a social system, a philosophy of life, a system of economics and of government. It belonged to the Arabs before becoming a world religion. The Prophet was an Arab. The language of the Qurʾan is Arabic, and many of the Islamic rules and customs are Arabic. For example, the pilgrimage to the Kaʿba was an ancient Arab custom before its incorporation into Islamic tradition.
Bibliography
Bazzaz, Abd al-Rahman al-. On Arab Nationalism, translated by Edward Atiyah. London: Embassy of the Republic of Iraq; printed by S. Austin, 1965.
Khadduri, Majid. Republican Iraq: A Study in Iraqi Politics since the Revolution of 1958. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1969.
Penrose, Edith, and Penrose, E. F. Iraq: International Relations and National Development. London: E. Benn; Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1978.
— AYAD AL-QAZZAZ
